Music Man Amps: A Short History 

Forrest White came to our music store in the 70's to sign us up as a dealer. My father knew him from the Fender days and told me to pay attention to him. He brought out a small amp. My first reaction was that we didn't need another Princeton type amp . That was my impression until I plugged it in . Wow! This was no Princeton, these were amazing! When Ernie Ball Bought Music Man I was disappointed that they didn't continue the amps. My favorites were the white Tolex RP amps. I still have a demo cabinet to show how the amps were built. Solid wood top and sides. Proper plywood back and speaker baffle. One nice touch was the front top corners that protected the knobs in case of a tip over. The amps were very reliable and we didn't have warranty problems with them.

I was 16 years old, knew nothing about amps, and was lucky enough to choose a new 115RP. I still have it 40+ years later.

I lost out on buying a MM amp In 1979. I finally got a HD 130 head in 1988 and still use it today. The first cabinet was a peavy that I put in an ElectroVoice 15” from 1980. Since 2009 I’ve used Hartke XL 410 and 115 cabinets. The head has the 4 original EL 34 tubes as well as the Sylvania Milspec rectifier tube. It hasn’t needed any servicing or repairs. The sound is very linear, clear, responsive to my basses.

I have owned more than 12 of them. I am down to six as I sold all the ones 200 watts + as they were too heavy to move. I have four 50 waters, and two 65, and one 75! I love them!

In the 80s and 90s I used two 112 Rds in stereo and I remember a soundcheck when a guy who played the stage before us with a Marshall fullstack came to me and said to me that he could not believe that these little amps sounded so much bigger and more dynamic than his fullstack. Often I used one 112Rd as a top for an 4x12 closed cab. It rocked every stage! Especially in warm conditions. MMs like It hot.😊

Since '82 I've played a 112RD -EV with a 35 pound magnet pushing it with a twin tube preamp and multi modulation. Man it has a rock sound like no other but cleans up perfectly.

I've had a MM 212 for almost 20 years, and a 112RD for over 10 now but never realized there was a 110. I'd love to come across one one day!

My old MusicMan 65, which I've owned since the 70s, is my favourite ever sounding amp. The problem is that my days of lugging amps weighing more than 60 lbs to gigs are long over. Nowadays I play Quilter amps, which do a job that's about 98% of the way there at about a third of the weight.

I have a Sixty Five 212 and it’s been my main amp for decades, despite having a bunch of vintage amps (Fender, Ampeg, Supro…) as well.

I own an RD 50. Has an EV in it. Bought it 81 or 82. Pulled it out recently after playing some other amps and was a bit blown away. Used a Boss OD pedal and it sang.

I love the rd50. Have two, one with EV and one with an WGS G12C/S. Both killer!

Hi , the legendary Little Feat used Music Man amps live for a while I think. Nice amps .

Wonderful video. Lovely to see a jazz guitar educator celebrating these fine amps. I've owned an RD 210 since 1982 and play it almost every day. Also purchased an RP112 about four years ago and love for different reasons. To develop this brilliant video it would be great if you could discuss the various ways one could EQ these amps. Once again, tremendous video.

I had a MM 112RD 50 or 65 (can't recall which) back in the early '80's. I was a noob looking for more gain at the time and didn't know anything about pedals. I couldn't get enough distortion out of it to suit me. I traded it and a '70's Strat for my brother's '64 Chevrolet Chevelle Malibu SS convertible. The car's long gone. My brother still has the amp.

I have a 112 RD 50; both channels are great. You don’t need an OD pedal, that’s for sure. Reverb is great too, for a tank🥰

Cool amp, my brother asked me yesterday if I wanted his 112

Joe Perry’s music man amps were highly modified. Any info on the mods would make a great video. It’s on eBay now for $25K!!!!

I have two 112 RD fifty amps and they are great, especially live as they are loud enough to be heard over the band. I went to see Chet Atkins play at a club in Houston. After the show, I got to talking with his 2nd guitar player, Paul Yandell, and he showed me Chet's 2 112 RD fifty amps. He said Chet had a several rooms in his house filled with amps, but the 112 RD fifty was his favorite and he and Paul had been using them for years. If it was good enough for Chet? They are almost indestructible too. Yes, they are super clean, but they take pedals well. Very practical design.

Have an HD 130 head I updated and slight modes the amp it’s great!

Nice to see and hear Albert Lee playing a Telecaster, something he really shines at, instead of the red Music Man guitar he has been playing in recent years. I do wish you'd shown a clip of Johnny Winter playing and maybe skipped over one of the jazz-coma players......

They remind me of the Fender 65 Super Reverb but were made when modeling amps were using tube amps out of the way so they combined the solid state and the tube really cool.

own hd130 reverb Head since 1978, one time repiar/refresh.....blow the doors off of fort Knox....wonderful amp.

5:24 - Ah, that Eric Clapton promo shot. :) One of the reasons I got an MM 112-RD 50 back in ... early 80s, I guess? Had it for a long time, but eventually gave way to a Rivera. Both great amps!

Hey I know it's been a year, but AFAIK the most famous jazz guitarist using an RD50 is Ben Monder. He's the reason I bought one in the early 2000s and bought another one five or six years ago. The solid state/tube combo is perfect for jazz tone.

The guitarist in one of my bands has one. I occasionally switch to guitar and, to save bringing two amps, he'll use my bass amp and I'll use his guitar amp. I do enjoy playing it, seems to handle everything I can throw at it and just has a really clean sound. We're an improv band who don't really fit any genre, so that's a lot of things for it to handle! Sadly, I feel like the guitarist will be selling it before long - I'll miss it!

i used for a long time a fender champ 25 se (ss preamp, tube phaseinverter and tube poweramp)… the clean channel is beautiful… (while the overdrive useless is)…

I have a MM 112 Rd 50 watt and a MM 112 RD 100 watt They were fairly cheap but these days prices are climbing. I like the fact that I don't have to buy pre-amp tubes

I've owned several amps, including all the BF fenders. The 112 RD 50 is still my favorite. Great video! Thanks for sharing

Chris Cain is the man!

I’m not sure about what you said about MM amps not being scooped and trebley like Fender amps. As far as I know, and from what I’ve heard from the larger models, they are voiced pretty identically to Fender’s Blackfaces, just with more headroom, which was always a priority for Leo. Maybe the one you are talking about was just less scooped sounding because it was a ten inch speaker in a small cab, which tends to create a more midrange tone, and would cancel out some of the scooped character of the EQ?

Have a rd100 head...great amp..got it recapped.

Just bought a black faced 210 like the one Joan used, smells like it could have been one of hers, has cigarette melts along the front edge. Where did you get that snipet about her I'd like to know.

my best amp

my 210 65 goes great with my gretsch hollowbody!

Those little RP & RD 50s whether a 110 or 112 are brutes ! Look disarming but can pack a surprising punch for the size ! ...

Interesting. Nice job Jamie.

I own a 150W with 2X10s. Can be bloody loud if you want

My RD 110 was a giant killer.

Bow do you run a serial number on one to find out the year? I bought a 112rp with the pedal for reverb and phaser has a ev 12 speaker black background badge ?

Thanks for this! What’s your experience with Laney amps? Wondering about their clean tone.

Ben monder uses one

I heard a three piece rock band where the guitar player was using a 1x12 model with some pedals. He sounded enormous. They were doing Hendrix and other classic rock covers. The MMs were a very common backline amp in the late '70s and early '80s. Here's Knopfler when he was sporting one. Sounds great: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-CZSvgVz_0F0.html

Thanks for the great info! Another artist of note is the country group Alabama who used Music Man for several years after coming onto the scene in 1980. Here is a live performance from 82 with them all playing through MM guitars and amps. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-M6WfM0cXWSQ.html